‘What works’- Social media

The NCCPE are delighted to announce the first in a series of ‘what works’ events. The first topic focusses on the use of social media in engaging the public with research.

Last year the NCCPE commissioned a short piece of desk research to explore the use of social media in engaging the public with research. The researcher found:

Researchers are mainly using social media for the purposes of peer-to-peer networking and dissemination, and many receive support from their universities to do so;

Significantly fewer researchers use social media to open up conversations or invite collaboration from the public.

We are therefore looking to develop support for academics who want to engage the public with social media, and we are keen to hear from you!

What excellent practice have we missed? Have you researched the use of social media and have ideas of how to make this work well? Do you have tools to support people wanting to enhance their work in this area? Have you come up with ways of addressing the challenges in this way? If so, please read our latest blog ‘social media – a ‘go-go’ or ‘no-go’ for quality public engagement?’ and submit evidence to our call for evidence.

If you have any questions or would like to suggest a topic for a ‘what works’ event, please get in touch.

Steph
Project Officer, National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement